Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images/File
A 2007 file photo shows a morality police officer asking a woman to enter a police station in Tehran.
CNN –
Iran’s morality police will resume patrols to force women to comply with strict Islamic dress codes, state media reported on Sunday, ten months after the death of a young woman in her custody sparked nationwide protests.
Saeid Montazeralmahdi, spokesman for Iran’s law enforcement agency Faraja, said police will resume vehicle and foot patrols across the country starting Sunday, state-run Fars News Agency reported.
Officials will first warn women who don’t comply, while those who “insist on breaking the norms” face legal action, he said.
The morality police came into the international limelight in September last year when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died three days after being arrested by police for wearing her hijab (headscarf) incorrectly and was taken to a “re-education center”.
Vahid Salemi/AP
Iranian police have announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf.
Her death sparked nationwide protests that shook the country and posed one of the greatest domestic threats to Iran’s ruling clerical regime in more than a decade.
Authorities responded violently to quell the months-long movement, which has seen witnesses say the morality police have all but disappeared from Tehran’s streets.
According to human rights groups, Iran executed at least 582 people last year, a 75% increase from 2021. They say the surge reflects an attempt by Tehran to incite fear among anti-regime protesters.
The morality police have access to power, guns, prisons and control “re-education centers,” Human Rights Watch told CNN last year. The group is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.
The centers act like detention centers, where women – and sometimes men – are imprisoned for disregarding state etiquette.
In the facilities, detainees are taught about Islam and the importance of hijab, and are forced to sign a pledge to conform to government dress codes before being released.